Cross-jurisdictional youth employment policy and welfare in Scotland, Wales and England: a street-level perspective

Pearce, Sioned ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6906-1096 and Narayan, Nivedita 2025. Cross-jurisdictional youth employment policy and welfare in Scotland, Wales and England: a street-level perspective. Journal of Social Policy

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Abstract

Here we examine interactions between centralised and devolved employment policy and welfare in Scotland, Wales and England, taking a qualitative approach to gain a street-level perspective. This paper’s twin aims are to challenge the privileging of methodological nationalism in the study of welfare regimes and to offer a sub-state alternative through a street-level perspective. In the context of prevailing trends towards activation measures and mixed economies of welfare across Western Europe, the UK’s work first approach and categorisation as a Liberal welfare regime of minimal provision is complexified using a devolved policy context. Our findings on cross-jurisdictional interactions show devolved employment programmes in Scotland and Wales actively reshaping welfare delivery in ways that resist the UK's historically centralised approach. We contribute to a growing body of literature on substate welfare regimes with significant implications for the privileging of methodological nationalism in the study of work and welfare.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0047-2794
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 February 2025
Date of Acceptance:	2 January 2025
Last Modified:	10 Mar 2025 15:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/176157

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